This invention relates to a fishing reel, and more particularly, to an improvement in an indicia means for indicating a backlash or spool-overrun preventing or damping force and an adjusting means per se for such a force, wherein a spool is so controlled as to rotate at a speed lower than that required for paying out a fishing line when cast, thereby adjusting the spool to obtain a moderate speed.
Fishing reels such as a casting reel and the like are adapted so that a fishing line wound around a spool is successively paid out when a lure and a weight are cast to the point, that is, in casting simultaneously with freely rotating the spool. At this moment, the spool is so controlled as to rotate at a speed not higher than that required for paying out the fishing line, to prevent the fishing line from involving backlash. There have been provided backlash preventing means of a mechanical brake type and magnetic type. In the mechanical brake type, a brake shoe is rotated together with a spool while the former is being forced against a brake plate. In the magnetic type, magnets are mounted in a stationary manner and a non-magnetic conductor is fixed to the spool, with the rotatable non-magnetic conductor being interposed between N and S poles of the magnets to produce an eddy current, thereby damping the spool. A magnet damping system has been known in Japanese Utility Model application Laid-Open Nos. 13075/83 and 117866/83 and Japanese patent application Laid-Open No. 155036/83.
A damping or braking force required for eliminating backlash of the fishing line is not constant. In order to sufficiently eliminate or minimize backlash of the fishing line, a damping force acting on the spool must be adjusted in response to an inertia torque of the spool rotating depending upon a speed at which the fishing line is paid out in casting.
As seen from Japanese Utility Model application Laid-Open No. 117866/83, a spool damping force control means of this class is designed so that a knob is rotatably mounted on an outer periphery of a reel flange and that the knob stem is connected through a suitable gear train to a magnet which is rotatable around the non-magnetic conductor by rotatably operating the knob to change circumferential relative positions of the magnets. The non-magnetic conductor is adapted to thus adjust the damping force exerted on the spool. An outer periphery of the reel flange is provided with scale corresponding to the position of the knob so that the extent of the damping force on the spool may be visually indicated.
However, according to such a conventional manner that the damping force is indicated, although the knob is operated to set an indicating mark to the indicia scale for adjustment of the spool damping force, the knob is made tiny and almost covered with the operator's finger tips when used, to thus involve difficulty in making sure a position where the scale is pointed out. Further, the indicia scale is positioned around the knob and formed on the outer periphery of the reel flange, and the knob in turn extends from the reel flange. Disadvantages derived therefrom are that the scale would be included in a shadow of the knob to cause the scale to be unable to be read out unless one should look into the scale, and that the scale around the knob to be pointed out is unable to be read out at once, especially is this the case with a blur of the scale due to a change in a lapse of time.
Also, the conventional backlash preventing means is disadvantageous in its operability. For example, in Japanese patent application Laid-Open No. 155036/83, there is a backlash preventing means in which a lever provided on an outer face of a reel is used to adjust a braking force. In such a fishing reel, it is general that a lever for adjustment of the braking force is provided on a reel side for readily operating the reel by gripping the fishing rod and the fishing reel. For this reason, it would be impossible to operate the lever by the operator's hand on the lever side of the reel. Even if the thumb of the operator's hand on the lever side of the reel might actuate the lever for the brake adjustment, the position of a tip end of the adjustment lever which is manually actuated by the operator's thumb would be varied up and down. Therefore, it would be difficult to manually actuate the adjustment lever by the lever side thumb of the operator's hand which is gripping the fishing rod thus the operator's thumb will be tired. This results in adverse effect on the subsequent casting. Also, even if the adjustment lever would be actuated by the thumb downwardly, it would be difficult to actuate the lever upwardly to a desired position by the thumb. Furthermore, in the conventional brake adjustment lever remarkably projects to the outside from the fishing reel, which lever obstruct the manual operation of the fishing reel.